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froon 's review for:
Small Things Like These
by Claire Keegan
this was a nice, sentimental story. the prose is engaging and lyrical, acting as the main driving force behind the novella. i really enjoyed the tension between eileen and bill, with her endless work acting as a sort of baseline, background detail. i would’ve absolutely loved to see how bill’s actions at the end of the book impact her.
most of my gripes with the book have been communicated by other reviewers: the uncomfortable elephant of a saintly, neerdowrong male protagonist with complicit or actively hostile women supporting characters; the sappy, incompleteness of the ending; the lack of depth giving to the abuse within the narrative text. the pseudo-coziness didn’t capture me enough to let go of those elements (even though it’s christmas time and i’m about to go to ireland). while there is a great sense of tension written beneath the sprawling sentences of the novel, the lack of material action on that tension ended feeling a bit empty.
overall, it’s a wonderfully written book, but i found myself unable to attach myself to the character or story as much as i had hoped. just a small little review for you :)
most of my gripes with the book have been communicated by other reviewers: the uncomfortable elephant of a saintly, neerdowrong male protagonist with complicit or actively hostile women supporting characters; the sappy, incompleteness of the ending; the lack of depth giving to the abuse within the narrative text. the pseudo-coziness didn’t capture me enough to let go of those elements (even though it’s christmas time and i’m about to go to ireland). while there is a great sense of tension written beneath the sprawling sentences of the novel, the lack of material action on that tension ended feeling a bit empty.
overall, it’s a wonderfully written book, but i found myself unable to attach myself to the character or story as much as i had hoped. just a small little review for you :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Physical abuse